The Birth and Death of the Day

THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE DAY
NICHOLAS AUSTIN DOERMANN
THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE DAY
A CENOTAPH FOR HUMANITY
ARCHITECTURAL RUMINATIONS, REFLECTIONS, DREAMS, AND (PARTIAL) CONCLUSIONS TOWARDS
A RECODIFICATION OF RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE
Memento Mori
to
youth.
THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE DAY
ANNUM
AN EXISTENCE IN THREE STAGES
(mind, body & soul)
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DAWN mind
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SUNRISE a distant place .
DAY body
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AUTUMN to explore the womb, or tomb, or dreams
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WINTER an examination of environment
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SPRING thinking in images .
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SUMMER sequential boundaries
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DUSK soul
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SUNSET a place distant
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REFERENCES .
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ANNOTATED NOTES .
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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DEATH
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9
THE BIRTH
PRE-EXISTENCE
AN INTRODUCTORY PREFACE
This book is a collection of concepts that are known to exist,
but are difficult to explain.
It is a search for understanding.
It is an effort to explain and define intangible concepts
by tangible means of representation.
It is by no means a definite conclusion,
but rather,
a conclusion at a moment in time.
It is a record
(of a year)
of an existence.
NICHOLAS AUSTIN DOERMANN
MMVIII - MMIX
THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE DAY
DAWN
mind
12
13
SUNRISE
A DISTANT PLACE
PRE-KNOWLEDGE
Plains
Purcellville, Virginia
At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.
The inner freedom from the practical desire,
The release from action and suffering, release from the inner
And the outer compulsion, yet surrounded
By a grace of sense, a white light still and moving,
Erhebung without motion, concentration
Without elimination, both a new world
And the old made explicit, understood
In the completion of its partial ecstasy,
The resolution of its partial horror.
Yet the enchainment of past and future
Woven in the weakness of the changing body,
Protects mankind from heaven and damnation
Which flesh cannot endure.
Time past and time future
Allow but a little consciousness.
To be conscious is not to be in time
But only in time can the moment in the rose-garden,
The moment in the arbour where the rain beat,
The moment in the draughty church at smokefall
Be remembered; involved with past and future.
Only through time time is conquered.1
14
15
AN EXPLOR ATION OF EXPERIENCE
PHENOMENAL LIMITS
REFORMATION
“One of the central human acts is the act of inhabiting, of connecting ourselves, however temporarily, with a place on the
planet which belongs to us, and to which we belong.”2
We feel the need to connect to a higher place. To establish, if only briefly, a relationship that
surpasses our daily interactions with the world. We strive to reach a higher order and come closer to a
universal ideal. Of inhabiting. Of living. Of being. That we belong to the earth and the earth belongs to
us. In doing so, we hope that we may gain some insight into how we came to be, where we are, what we
are doing, and why we are here. Our place in the world. Our purpose.
Inhabitation serves as the primary method by which this is made possible. A declaration of
intent to settle. An establishment of dwelling. Occupation. The creation of a place. We aim to transform
the ordinary into the extraordinary, the profane into the sacred, and in doing so replicate the means by
which we feel the world itself was made. Man symbolically transforms the unknown into the familiar. It
is through “a ritual repetition of the cosmogony” that our world is transformed into the world.3 It is not an
act of human work, it is an act of human replication of the work of the gods. The microcosmic repetition
of a primordial act of the creation of the cosmos on a microcosmic scale. The transformation of chaos into
order. The transformation of place into universe.
This ritual is constituted by our unconscious thoughts which constantly permeate our way of
being. An amalgamation of past experiences that collectively forms the way in which we act and think. It
is this latent influence that defines how we design and view the world. Our prior existence becomes the
means in which we will exist in the future. It is a cyclical search for meaning in the past. Places, objects
and experiences. In creating the world, we must also recreate our own existence.
When I work on a design I allow myself to be guided by images and moods that I remember and can relate to the kind of
architecture I am looking for. Most of the images that come to mind originate from my subjective experience and are only
rarely accompanied by a remembered architectural commentary. While I am designing I try to find out what these images
mean so that I can learn how to create a wealth of visual forms and atmospheres.4
The nature of memory intrinsically abstracts meanings in the recollection of past experiences.
What we are left with is a series of fragmentary sensory associations that we intuitively know to belong to
a preconceived mental image, but are unable to tangibly convey them. Herein lies the disconnect between
Man and Nature. Nature effortlessly is what Man constantly struggles to be.
So Man sets out on a search for understanding. He knows of what he searches for, but knows not
the means in which to ultimately acquire the results. He intuitively gathers and collects, and begins to
build. Piece by piece he forms a paradigmatic model so that he may begin to comprehend his world. A
coherent representation of his place within the universe, that can be understood by all. A show of mutual
understanding, of being and belonging. He builds in his image, which is the image of the world, in hopes
of creating a transferable idea that can be shared by all. That however different we may be, we are all
part of a greater whole. We all share in the same condition.
The human condition.
A World Apart
Assisi, Italy
16
17
Cairn
Assisi, Italy
Touch/Make
Assisi, Italy
18
19
CONDITIONS FOR THE UNKNOWN
ACCEPTED TRUTHS
AN AMALGAMATED CREDO
An exploration into the unknown often provokes more questions than it could ever answer. One must accept
certain principles in order to be able to grasp what Man is not able to fully comprehend. These truths help foster a greater
understanding, serving as the foundation for a system of beliefs.
I.
MAN as religious
“The majority of men ‘without religion’ still hold to pseudo religions and degenerated
mythologies. There is nothing surprising in this, for, as we saw, profane man is the descendant of
homo religiosus and he cannot wipe out his own history—that is, the behavior of his religious ancestors
which has made him what he is today. This is all the more true because a great part of his existence is
fed by impulses that come to him from the depths of his being, from the zone that has been called the
‘unconscious’. A purely rational man is an abstraction; he is never found in real life. Every human being
is made up at once of his conscious activity and his irrational experiences.”5
II.
LIFE as continuous
“For religious man, the appearance of life is the central mystery of the world. Life comes from
somewhere that is not this world and finally departs from here and goes to the beyond, in some mysterious
way continues in an unknown place inaccessible to the majority of mortals. Human life is not felt as a
brief appearance in time, between one nothingness and another; it is preceded by a pre-existence and
continued in a postexistence. Little is known about these two extraterrestrial stages of human life, yet they
are known to exist. Hence, for religious man, death does not put a final end to life. Death is but another
modality of human existence.”6
III.
NATURE as (dis)connected
“The beauty of nature touches us as something great that goes beyond us. Man comes from
nature and returns to it. An inkling of the measure of human life within the immensity of nature wells up
inside us when we come upon the beauty of a landscape that has not been domesticated and carved down
to human scale. We feel sheltered, humble and proud at once. We are in nature, in this immeasurable
form that we will never understand and now, in a moment of heightened experience, no longer need to
because we sense that we ourselves are part of it.”7
IV.
UNKNOWN as phenomenal
“The truly ‘mysterious’ object is beyond our apprehension and comprehension, not only because
our knowledge has certain irremovable limits, but because in it we come upon something inherently
‘wholly other’, whose kind and character are incommensurable with our own, and before which we
therefore recoil in a wonder that strikes us chill and numb.”8
The Light of Day
Ronchamp, France
20
21
V.
TREE as divine
“All this, moreover is ciphered in the cosmic rhythms; man need only decipher what the cosmos
says in its many modes of being, and he will understand the mystery of life. But one thing seems clear
beyond doubt: that the cosmos is a living organism, which renews itself periodically. The mystery of the
inexhaustible appearance of life is bound up with the rhythmical renewal of the cosmos. This is why
the cosmos was imagined in the form of a gigantic tree; the mode of being the cosmos, and first of all its
capacity for endless regeneration, are symbolically expressed by the life of the tree.” 9
VI.
WATER as (re)generative
“The waters symbolize the universal sum of virtualities; they are fons et origo, “spring and origin”,
the reservoir of all the possibilities of existence; they precede every form and support every creation. One
of the paradigmatic images of creation is the island that suddenly manifests itself in the midst of the waves.
On the other hand, immersion in water signifies regression to the preformal, reincorporation into the
undifferentiated mode of pre-existence. Emersion repeats the cosmogonic act of formal manifestation;
immersion is equivalent to a dissolution of forms. This is why the symbolism of the waters implies both
death and rebirth. Contact with water always brings a regeneration—on the one hand because dissolution
is followed by a new birth, on the other because immersion fertilizes and multiplies the potential of life.”10
VII.
FIRE as soul
“And most important it was warm, one of the most fundamental qualities that we associate with
our own lives. When the fire dies, its remains become cold, just as the body becomes cold when a person
dies. Drawing a parallel to the concept of the soul that animates the physical body of the person, the fire,
then, is the animating spirit for the body of the house.”11
VIII.
RITUAL as consecration
“By the erection of a fire altar...communication with the world of the gods is ensured; the space
of the altar becomes a sacred space. But the meaning of this ritual is far more complex, and if we consider
all of its ramifications we shall understand why consecrating a territory is equivalent to making it a
cosmos, to cosmicizing it. For, in fact, the erection of an altar...is nothing but the reproduction—on the
microcosmic scale—of the Creation. The water in which the clay is mixed is assimilated to the primordial
water; the clay that forms the base of the altar symbolizes the earth; the lateral walls represent the
atmosphere, and so on...Hence the erection of a fire altar—which alone validates taking possession of a
new territory—is equivalent to cosmogony.”12
IX.
X.
TIME as cyclical
“Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.”13
BEAUTY as timeless
“The intensity of a brief experience, the feeling of being utterly suspended in time, beyond past
and future —this belongs to many, perhaps even to all sensations of beauty. Something that has the
radiation of beauty strikes a cord in me, and later, when it is over, I say: I was completely at one with
myself and the world, at first holding my breath for a brief moment, then utterly absorbed and immersed,
filled with wonder, feeling the vibrations, effortlessly excited and calm as well, enthralled by the magic
of the appearance that has struck me. Feelings of joy. Happiness. The countenance of a sleeping child,
unaware of being watched. Serene, undisturbed beauty. Nothing is mediated. Everything is itself.”14
Uncertainty
Berlin, Germany
THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE DAY
DAY
body
24
25
AUTUMN
TO EXPLORE THE WOMB, OR TOMB, OR
DREAMS
COLLAGE AS MYTH
The myth proclaims the appearance of a new cosmic situation or of a primordial event. Hence it is always
the recital of a creation; it tells how something was accomplished, began to be.15
Aide-mémoire
Serigraph on Newsprint
26
27
A VISUAL LANGUAGE
DEALING IN METAPHORS
RECREATION
“The way in which reality came into existence is revealed by its myth.”16
We acknowledge the basic connotations of certain images, and also realize the symbolic ways
in which they can represent ambiguous ideas. Image becomes the most effective way of comprehending
meaning, as well as conveying it, especially when conceptual in nature. When viewed objectively, a single
image can directly state and depict an intrinsic value. We grasp its message on the most primary level as
a depiction of a object that is perceivable and recognizable. It is with the addition of symbolic undertones
that an image takes on its true form and comes into a physical being. We have held it, we have touched it,
we know it. We understand it as a tangible reality. It exists.
It is the irruption of the sacred into the world, an irruption narrated in myths, that establishes the world as reality. Every
myth shows how a reality came into existence, whether it be the total reality, the cosmos, or only a fragment—an island,
a species of plant, a human institution. To tell how things came into existence is to explain them and at the same time
indirectly to answer another question: Why did they come into existence? The why is always implied in the how—for the
simple reason that to tell how a thing was born is to reveal an irruption of the sacred into the world, and the sacred is the
ultimate cause of all real existence.17
The illustration of myths illustrates a reality, however limited in scope it may be, by “endowing
faith with validity”18. It lends a credence and believability to a collection of intuitive concepts by its
relationship to humanity as a whole. As a system understood, if not believed, by all. The combination
and amalgamation of a priori concepts and meanings serves to enrich, as well as recreate, a view of
our existence and the events that we understand as vital to it. Life. Death. Birth. Regeneration. It is
through this repetition that we strive to understand our reality on a deeper level, more than any strict
image may suggest. It is an exploration into meaning.
If religious man feels the need of indefinitely reproducing the same paradigmatic acts and gestures, this is because he desires
and attempts to live close to his gods.19
It is the reuse of the old to compositionally reinvent anew. A repositioning of elements to
create an interpretative language, one rather that is not new, but part of the new whole. Creating new
associations and concepts grounded in the meanings and foundation of the past, foreign and yet familiar
at the same time. It is the reclamation of what is found to exist, and what has always existed, rearranged
as a means of establishing a both personal and universal reality. The layering of elements as a palimpsest,
to foster the understanding of vital concepts. Place. Atmosphere. Order. Hierarchy. Position. A way of
re-presenting and re-creating the way in which things have existed, and will continue to exist.
A beginning and an end.
And I object to the love of ready-made images in place of images to be made.20
Max Ernst
28
29
This Frightening and Irrational Experience
I : Unknown
The World Religious Man Discovers
I : Familiar
30
31
This Frightening and Irrational Experience
II : Father
The World Religious Man Discovers
II : Mother
32
33
This Frightening and Irrational Experience
III : Death
The World Religious Man Discovers
III : Life
34
35
Remember,
That You are but a Man
Death Notice
Serigraph on Newsprint
36
37
Ethereal/Earthly
Serigraph on Wood
38
39
Man
Serigraph on Chipboard
Human
Serigraph on Chipboard
40
41
WINTER
AN EXAMINATION OF ENVIRONMENT
GENIUS LOCI
“This is as much as to say that men are not free to choose the sacred site, that they only seek for it and find it
by the help of mysterious signs.”21
The Outlines of Place
Winter
42
43
MAN AND HIS UNIVERSE
THE IMPORTANCE OF ORDINARY THINGS
REPRESENTATION
“Beauty always appears to me in settings, in clearly delimited pieces of reality, object-like or in the manner of a still life or
like a self-contained scene, composed to perfection without the least trace of effort or artificiality. Everything is as it should
be, everything is in its place.”22
Man’s world is ultimately defined by how he perceives it. The way in which he views the subtle
nuances of his surroundings. The level of detail in which he examines the ins and outs of place. His
recognition of symbolism in seemingly ordinary experiences and how he applies religious connotations to
everyday occurrences. The contemplation of his environment. All of these interactions, taking place within a
microcosmic fragment of the world, serve to define his relationship with, and comprehension of, a greater
whole.
For religious man, nature is never only “natural”; it is always fraught with a religious value. This is easy to understand, for
the cosmos is a divine creation; coming from the hands of the gods, the world is impregnated with sacredness.23
But Man is quite often unaware of the latent ways he recognizes divinity. He does not realize
why he is drawn to a particular place or what has brought him to where he is. All he knows is that
something strikes him as beautiful and whole, complete. That he may never replicate the beauty he beholds,
he can only hope to understand it, and pass this understanding along to anyone who may then share in the
same appreciation. His isolated experience will allow him to convey meaning and wisdom to others.
He takes what is given, capturing the elemental essence of the place, and aspires to amplify what
it has given him. Acknowledging the manifestation of the sacred in the natural world. An appearance of
a higher order that opens up the relationship and establishes a dialogue between Man and Nature.
Symbols awaken individual experience and transmute it into a spiritual act, into metaphysical comprehension of the world. In
the presence of any tree, symbol of the world tree and image of cosmic life, a man of the premodern societies can attain to the
highest spirituality, for, by understanding the symbol, he succeeds in living the universal. It is the religious vision of the world,
and the concomitant ideology, that enable him to make this individual experience bear fruit, to “open” it to the universal.24
The tree becomes the center in which the world grows and unfolds out of. The life and structure
of the site. A simultaneous revelation of the mystery of life and creation, as well as the mystery of renewal,
youth, and immortality.25 The sky becomes the great unknown, a hovering example of transcendence,
where Man discovers both his own situation in the cosmos and the divine incommensurability of it.26 The
mountain acts as an embodiment of the universe, a constant and humble reminder of something that
exists that is larger than yourself. The seasonal changes provide the cyclical framework in which Man
explores the modalities of existence. Of life and death. Of rebirth and regeneration.
His site is his model of the universe. It provides a context to explore the world in its entirety, to
work with multiplicities of scale and foster understanding of the interconnectivity of parts to the whole.
A means to explore a brutal amplification of the ordinary.
Levels (Contemplation)
Summer
44
45
Micro (Macro)
Spring
Macro (Micro)
Autumn
46
47
Death (Birth)
Winter
Birth (Death)
Summer
48
49
I : Yggdrasil Shivers
Summer
II : The Ash, as it Stands
Autumn
50
51
III : The Old Tree Groans
Winter
IV : And the Giant Slips Free 27
Spring
52
53
Part
Summer
Whole
Summer
54
55
Part
Autumn
Whole
Autumn
56
57
Part
Winter
Whole
Winter
58
59
Part
Summer
Whole
Summer
60
61
62
63
SPRING
THINKING IN IMAGES
ARCHITECTURAL MEDIATION
Producing inner images is a natural process common to everyone. It is part of thinking. Associative,
wild, free, ordered, and systematic thinking in images, in architectural, spatial, colorful, and sensuous
pictures—this is my favorite definition of design.28
Life Cycle
Plan/Section Study
64
65
THE CONSTRUCTION OF REALMS
ESTABLISHING CONNECTIONS
REGENERATION
“Beauty...is at its most intense when it is born of absence. I find something missing, a compelling expression, an empathy,
which instantly affects me when I experience beauty. Before the experience, I did not realize or perhaps no longer knew that
I missed it, but now I am persuaded by knowledge renewed that I will always miss it. Longing. The experience of beauty
makes me aware of absence. What I experience, what touches me, entails both joy and pain. Painful is the experience of
absence and pure bliss is the experience of a beautiful form that has been ignited by the feeling of absence.” 29
We often understand more than we can communicate. Our mental comprehension of an idea
or set of concepts does not preclude the struggle we ultimately face in actualizing information into an
outcome representative of our knowledge. We are unable to fully explain our position, the way we see,
to others who may share in the same experience. It leaves us disconnected from both Man and Nature.
How we eliminate this distance is how we communicate with the world.
It is the act of remembering.
It is the combination of our conscious and unconscious thoughts. The recollection of past
images and creations recombined in order to form a cohesive whole. An investigation into, and
subsequent challenging of, accepted conventions. It is the application of order to chaos. The display of
an understanding of spatial organization and hierarchy. A manifestation of dimensional form within
an organized system. It is the utilization of the elements to emulate the work of the gods. Light. Dark.
Earth. Sky. Fire. Water. The expression of connections between Man and Nature, through the
contextual mapping of conditions and textures. It is how we see the world.
It is the act of designing.
It is the construction of spaces and places. The transformation of conceptual ideas into the
physical realm. Using drawing and modeling to give a representational existence of form. It is the
establishment of planar axes and points to create a system of connections. The juxtaposition of spatial
relationships to create mass and volume, capable of inhabiting. An insertion of organizational elements
to cohesively unify fragmented pieces. It is the application and integration of material to define form.
The creation of walls and floors to delineate the boundaries of a room. A manipulation of the individual
structural pieces to increase the strength of the whole. It is a move towards a concrete reality.
It becomes the auto-biography of a man.
It establishes the connection between Man and Nature
It is the act of Architecture,
and it is the mediator between Man and his world.
Order
Grid/Hierarchy Study
66
67
In the hearth, fire dwells in the building;
In the oven, fire builds the dwelling.30
Axis
Element/Mass Study
68
69
Man desires to dwell at a center, where there is the possibility of communicating with the gods.
His dwelling is a microcosm; and so too is his body.31
Center
Connection/Circulation Study
70
71
See, now they vanish,
The faces and places.32
Procession
Site/Entry Study
72
73
74
75
The break-through from plane to plane has been effected by a hierophany, there too an opening has been made.
The three comic levels—earth, heaven, underworld—have been put in communication.33
Reveal
Wall/Frame Study
76
77
SUMMER
SEQUENTIAL BOUNDARIES
THIS IS THE WORLD, YOU HAVE FOUND YOURSELF (IN)
The flow of time has been halted, experience crystallized into an image whose beauty seems to indicate
depth. While the feeling lasts, I have an inkling of the essence of things, of their most universal properties.
I now suspect that these lie beyond any categories of thought.34
Cosmos
Composite Plan Diagram
78
79
A SINGULAR EXPERIENCE FOR AN ENTIRE POPULACE
AN ARCHITECTURAL INTERPRETATION
REBIRTH
O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark,
The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,
The captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters,
The generous patrons of art, the statesmen and the rulers,
Distinguished civil servants, chairmen of many committees,
Industrial lords and petty contractors, all go into the dark,
And dark the Sun and Moon, and the Almanach de Gotha
And the Stock Exchange Gazette, the Directory of Directors,
And cold the sense and lost the motive of action.
And we all go with them, into the silent funeral,
Nobody’s funeral, for there is no one to bury.
I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed
With a hollow rumble of wings, with a movement of darkness on darkness,
And we know that the hills and the trees, the distant panorama
And the bold imposing facade are all being rolled away—
Or as, when an underground train, in the tube, stops too long between stations
And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence
And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen
Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about;
Or when, under ether, the mind is conscious but conscious of nothing—
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning.
The wild thyme unseen and the wild strawberry,
The laughter in the garden, echoed ecstasy
Not lost, but requiring, pointing to the agony
Of death and birth.35
Building out of the Mountain
Materiality
80
81
Ash on and old man's sleeve
Is all the ash the burnt roses leave.
Dust in the air suspended
Marks the place where a story ended.
Dust inbreathed was a house—
The walls, the wainscot and the mouse,
The death of hope and despair,
This is the death of air.
There are flood and drouth
Over the eyes and in the mouth,
Dead water and dead sand
Contending for the upper hand.
The parched eviscerate soil
Gapes at the vanity of toil,
Laughs without mirth.
This is the death of earth.
Water and fire succeed
The town, the pasture and the weed.
Water and fire deride
The sacrifice that we denied.
Water and fire shall rot
The marred foundations we forgot,
Of sanctuary and choir.
This is the death of water and fire.36
1775/2925
Phenomenal Limits
82
83
Descend lower, descend only
Into the world of perpetual solitude,
World not world, but that which is not world,
Internal darkness, deprivation
And destitution of all property,
Desiccation of the world of sense,
Evacuation of the world of fancy,
Inoperancy of the world of spirit;
This is the one way, and the other
Is the same, not in movement
But abstention from movement; while the world moves
In appetency, on its metalled ways
Of time past and time future.37
Entry
Site Plan: Extents
84
85
He was let down
into the tomb
the weight increased
at his descent
the hole in the cave
black beckoned.
He wanders through air
saturated with waiting souls
insufficient pressure
to overcome their vacancies
they adhere to his
thoughts’ remoteness
and faintly pump up
their past sins.
His visitations
opened up
at his wound
to Thomas’s hand
his ascension
completed his
journey on earth
and commenced
his heavenly
judgements.38
Descent
Site Plan: Limits
86
87
88
89
THE INTERSECTION OF ELEMENTS
GRID as cosmologic
THE BASIS OF FORM
I arrive.
I approach a narrow cut in the landscape, an opening into the world beneath.
A long stair, plunging deep into darkness.
A slow descent into the earth.
Diminishing light behind me as I move forward with trepidation.
Unable to judge a proper distance, unsure of my destination ahead.
Guided only by a single beacon of dissipating light.
Reaching
Bottom.
My impact reverberating with every step on the gravel path.
I feel the weight of the earth.
A dimly lit opening.
I enter.
Isometric Section
⅛” = 1’
90
91
I.
WATER as the darkness that lives in the earth
THE ABSENCE OF FORM
I pause.
My progress halted by a reveal of water to my left,
faintly illuminated by the dying light of day.
The flickering light strewn across the walls by the gentle rippling of the waves.
A terminus to reflect.
My body, just slightly detached,
from the waters below.
A quiet dampness surrounds me.
Suspended above on a wooden path.
I continue on the only way I can.
Moving onward, I turn the corner.
Alone.
92
93
II.
FIRE as thermal silence
THE DISINTEGRATION OF FORM
A glow.
A faint light in the distance bends the corner.
Warmth interjected into the darkness, inviting me further.
My every step resonates, solitude amplified.
The impact of man.
I turn, and am aligned.
Fire burns centrally from within, a room defined by illumination.
I slowly descend inward, my steps deafened by the crackle of the flame.
The room stretches high above, a space accessible only to thoughts.
I sit along the far wall, assimilated by a reveal in the stone.
I think.
I am.
94
95
III.
SKY as the gift of day
THE ILLUMINATION OF FORM
A return to darkness.
I move forward, uncertain.
My path transforming beneath me.
Wooden planks break away from the ground, rising above the waters.
A set of stairs bridging the small gap between the towering walls.
Constricted within the dark, the placement of my hand within the wall guides me.
Upwards I travel.
With each set I conquer, my journey becomes more clear.
The rhythmic movement bringing me closer.
An aberration cuts across my path.
Daylight.
I ascend out of the earth and into the sun.
96
97
IV.
TREE as the center of the world
THE REVEAL OF FORM
Into a dark cube.
The opening of a wall.
Here; this is the world.
98
99
Underworld
Site/Building Model
Enter (Mind)
Sequence
100
101
Earth
Site/Building Model
Exit (Body)
Sequence
102
103
Sky
Site/Building Model
Unite (Soul)
Sequence
THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE DAY
DUSK
soul
106
107
SUNSET
A PLACE DISTANT
COLLECTED WISDOM
I remember the experience of houses, villages, cities, and landscapes, about which I now say they lent me
an impression of beauty. Did these situations also seem beautiful to me at the time? I think so, but I’m not
quite sure. The impression came first, I suppose, and reflection followed. And I know that certain things
were not invested with beauty until afterwards, through subsequent impulses, conversations with friends,
or conscious exploration of my still aesthetically unclassified recollections.39
Plains
Blacksburg, Virginia
108
109
AN EXPERIENCE OF EXPLOR ATION
LIFE BEYOND DEATH
REFLEXION
“For religious man, reactualization of the same mythical events constitutes his greatest hope; for with each reactualization
he again has the opportunity to transfigure his existence, to make it like its divine model. In short, for religious man of the
primitive and archaic societies, the eternal repetition of paradigmatic gestures and the eternal recovery of the same mythical
time of origin, sanctified by the gods, in no sense implies a pessimistic vision of life. On the contrary, for him it is by virtue
of this essential return to the sources of the sacred and the real that human existence appears to be saved from nothingness and
death.”40
We
shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And
know the place for the first time.
Through
the unknown, unremembered gate
When
the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
As
the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And
the children in the apple-tree
Not
known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A
condition of complete simplicity
(Costing
not less than everything)
And
all shall be well and
All
manner of thing shall be well
When
the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into
the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.41
You say I am repeating
Something I have said before. I shall say it again.
Shall I say it again? In order to arrive there,
To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
And what you own is what you do not own
And where you are is where you are not.42
A World, A Part
Serigraph on Canvas
110
111
Situation Normal
Dawn
Situation Desolate
Dusk
112
113
THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE DAY
REFERENCES
LEXICAL/VISUAL/AURAL
+ Ando, Tadao. Kochuu: Japanese Architecture/Influence & Origin. Dir. Jesper Wachtmeiser.
2003. DVD. Icarus Films, 2006.
+ Dronke, Ursula. The Poetic Edda: Volume II: Mythological Poems. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1997.
+ Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Orlando: Harcourt, Inc.,
1959.
+ Eliot, T.S. Four Quartets. Orlando: Harcourt, Inc., 1943.
+ Ernst, Max. Une Semaine de Bonté: A Surrealistic Novel in Collage. Dover Publications, Inc.,
1976.
+ Fernández-Galiano, Luis. Fire and Memory: On Architecture and Energ y. Cambridge: MIT
Press, 2000.
+ Hejduk, John. Adjusting Foundations. New York: Monacelli, 1995.
+ Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. London: Oxford University Press, 1923.
+ Spradley, Todd. Myth, Ritual and Architecture: The Path Toward Architectural Transcendence.
Houston: Atrium Press, 1995.
+ Tanizaki, Jun’ichirō. In Praise of Shadows. London: Cape, 1991.
+ Zumthor, Peter. Thinking Architecture. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2006.
114
115
THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE DAY
ANNOTATED NOTES
SUPPLEMENTAL CREDIT
1.
Eliot, pp.15-16
23.
Eliade, p.116
2.
Tanizaki, p.624.
Eliade, p.212
3.
Eliade,
p.31
25.
Eliade, p.150
4.
Zumthor, p.2626.
Eliade, p.119
5.
Eliade, p.20927.
Dronke, p.19
6.
Eliade, p.147
28. Zumthor, p.68
7.
Zumthor, p.7329.
Zumthor, p.80
8.
Otto,
p.28
30. Fernández-Galiano, p.2
9.
Eliade, p.148
31.
Eliade, p.172
10.
Eliade,
p.130
32.
Eliot, p.55
11.
Fernández-Galiano, p.12
33.
Eliade, p.36
12.
Eliade, p.3034.
Zumthor, p.72
13.
Eliot,
p.14
35.
Eliot, pp.27-28
14.
Zumthor, p.72
36. Eliot, pp.51-52
15.
Eliade, p.9537.
Eliot, p.18
16.
Eliade,
p.76
38. Hejduk, p.98
17.
Eliade, p.97
39.
Zumthor, p.76
18.
Spradley, p.15
40. Eliade, pp.106-107
19.
Eliade, p.91
41.
Eliot, p.59
20.
Ernst,
pp.180-181
42.
Eliot, pp.28-29
21.
Eliade, p.2843.
Eliade, p.157
22.
Zumthor, p.76
44. Eliot, p.42
116
117
A CENOTAPH FOR HUMANITY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THANK YOU
in no particular order:
mom. dad. garrett. molly. grandma. grandpa. les. jon. kevin. andrew. ben. andrew lewis. matthew sander.
dereck aplin. tom carrier. ryan patterson. jon gaines. marc holbrook. laura young. veronica park. jodi
dubyoski. eric shore. shane dunlevy. chris pritchett. heiner schnoedt. hunter pittman. regin schwaen. ron
dulaney. erin carraher. helene renard. ellen braaten. juhani palassmaa. marlon blackwell. peter zumthor.
tadao ando. brian mackay-lyons. sami rintala. carlo scarpa. aldo rossi. john hejduk. rem koolhaas. steven
holl. atelier bow-wow. douglas darden. wellington reiter. antonio sant’elia. andy goldsworthy. hannsjörg
voth. martin puryear. max ernst. robert rauschenberg. marcel duchamp. mircea eliade. t.s. eliot.
blacksburg. purcellville. alexandria. virginia. spain. germany. czech republic. austria. hungary. croatia.
italy. switzerland. france. holland. belgium. england. europe. interstate 81. us route 460. catawba road.
lee street. church street. main street. cellar. rivermill. cabo. boudreaux’s. gillie’s. gucci kroger. cowgill.
burchard. power plant. drillfield. cascades. dragon’s tooth. hungry mother. 414. 508 301. 510. 37787. 2485.
krematorium baumschulenweg. isola di san michele. skogskyrkogården. tomba brion. igualada cemetery.
san cataldo. friedhof riem. kaze-no-oka. belvedere gardens. arlington national. therme vals. notre dame
du haut. kreuzberg tower. modernism. post-modernism. constructivism. deconstructivism. futurism.
la planète sauvage. tetsuo. paprika. eraserhead. rivers and tides. kochuu. manufactured landscapes. smlxl.
plain modern. condemned building. the sacred and the profane. four quartets. une semaine de bonte.
building construction illustrated. xylol. lamy. staedtler. moleskine. canon 400d. macbook pro. tea.
party peanuts. old mill. turkey sangwiches. d2. watermelon. the apple. cookouts. horseshoes. porch. gully
washers. hookah. potball. kan jam. tailgates. hokies. melvesters. wizards. kickfights. milk jugs. quadrants.
cocktail party. sinkland farms. last christmas. clint warner. joe piro. handles mcdaniels. cheick diakite.
owls. chickens. ellie. ren. chocolate sprinkles. orgenon. the admiral. creole. lilah. toby. marshall marshall.
fifa. mario kart. the onion. flickr. notcot. last fm. clipart etc. daytum. wizznutzz. cfn. wikipedia. youtube.
leprechauns. flea markets. prabhu deva. kitten surprise. body magic. pitagora suichi. latarian milton.
mc miker g & dj sven. boney m. madlib. j dilla. doom. mos def. aesop rock. dizzee rascal. clipse. def jux.
the hood internet. daft punk. mylo. smd. a-trak. tiesto. pryda. air france. the knife. m83. cut copy. van she.
foals. wolf parade. fleet foxes. bon iver. flaming lips. ra ra riot. the books. sigur rós. explosions in the sky.
spring. summer. winter. fall. light. dark. sun. moon. fire. ice. air. water. failure. success. doubt. belief.
life.
119
THE DEATH
POST-EXISTENCE
AN EPITAPH
For we must not forget that what the moon reveals to religious man is not only that death is indissolubly
linked with life but also, and above all, that death is not final, that it is always followed by a new birth.43
O voyagers, O seamen,
You who came to port, and you whose bodies
Will suffer the trial and judgement of the sea,
Or whatever event, this is your real destination.’
So Krishna, as when he admonished Arjuna
On the field of battle.
Not fare well,
But fare forward, voyagers.44
NICHOLAS AUSTIN DOERMANN
MMVIII - MMIX
Memento Vivere